The "upbeat" part of this story is this:

Chinese miners trapped for nearly a week after a tunnel collapsed told today how they survived by eating a leather belt and pieces of paper. ... "Later, we got really hungry and it was lucky I had a leather belt. I boiled it but it wouldn't cook, so I divided the half-cooked belt and gave it to everyone to eat," Wu was quoted as saying.

The disturbing part of it is:

The mine owner apparently delayed reporting the accident to local authorities for three days. Mine owners in China routinely attempt to hide accidents from authorities to avoid being fined or shut down.

A similar delay is being blamed for the high death toll at a mine in northern China last week, which killed 105 miners. The mine operators waited more than five hours before calling in outside rescuers.

It's just disgusting and sad that this happens routinely. Just part of everyday business. *sigh*

I'm surprised the government allowed the media to report it. Perhaps they plan on making an example of the mine owners to show that trying to avoid the fines is worse than just paying up. But with China's huge need for fuel, i doubt much will come of it. Safety gets tossed to the wayside in the face of "progress". There are a billion Chinese people, afterall. So what if they lose a few?